1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved data processing system. In particular, the present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for displaying real-time service level information and providing rebating for a utility computing environment.
2. Description of Related Art
Customers are demanding to pay only for the levels of service that are rendered from a service provider. Utility computing is pay-per-usage processing power provided by a service organization using computers and facilities belonging to the service organization. Customers access the computers and facilities through a network or over the Internet and are charged according to the computing time used, such as CPU seconds, minutes or hours, and according to the resources used, such as storage, memory, and network. A utility computing host provisions IT resources that are requested by a customer. E-business refers to conducting business online. An e-business site may be very comprehensive and offer more than just selling its products and services. For example, it may feature monitoring, metering, reporting and billing services. Customers pay a service provider for a promised service level according to the terms of a service level agreement (SLA). The Oxford Dictionary of Computing, 4th edition, suggests that “a typical SLA will set out the expected service levels in terms of availability, fault reporting, recovery from breakdowns, traffic levels, throughput, response times, training and advisory services, and similar measures of service quality as seen by the end user.” An SLA may take the form of a legal contract, but an SLA need not necessarily be a “legally” enforceable contract. On multiple occasions, a promised service level is breached, under-performed, or exceeded causing the customer to pay for a service level that was not provided.
Customers are beginning to make a transition from a dedicated IT infrastructure to an on-demand utility computing service for e-business, but customers sometimes do not have a good comfort level and are reluctant to give up control. Currently, real-time service level tools that support utility computing middleware do not exist.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method and system for displaying real-time service level information and proactive rebating for discrepancies in service level performance.